New Invader
by astronautgamer
Summary: I wanted to continue one of my favorite childhood shows that ended too abruptly: Invader Zim. I've grown a bit since the show aired, as I'm sure everyone else who watched it originally has, so I wanted to have the characters grow too. In this series, Gaz, Dib, and Zim have gotten much older and more complex. I can't explain everything, but read and things should make sense. Enjoy!


It was the last day of school and Gaz was dreading it. Not because of the time out of school, that she welcomed but because she would be spending the first week of her break in the woods without any games and only one book that she doubted she'd get a chance to read. It wasn't that she didn't like spending a whole week with her dad, which such time was literally unprecedented, but she couldn't imagine being without her Game Slave for so long. To her it seemed like torture and even worse, she knew that her brother Dib would be a non-stop moron looking for Big Foot the entire time or something else equally stupid.

For the rest of the day, she thought of asking a friend to go with her so she wouldn't feel so bored the whole trip but could think of no one to go with her. Iggins she thought was the most annoying kid at school, (since he transferred he hadn't left her alone in years about how he was the better gamer) and Sara was a little on the boring side, plus Gaz barely knew her and didn't care to start. She thought about taking Zim, over the years that he had lived on Earth he dialed down the annoyingness and even learned to fit in better. He was still a bit short, but had grown a lot since elementary skool which Gaz had learned from Tak's left behind data base was possible because of the gravity difference on Earth from Zim's home world so his genes actually had the chance to manifest. She thought about taking him for a good few minutes before deciding against it: if he did go, Dib would never leave him alone and that would be even worse than if he looked for Big Foot the whole time. Gaz figured that she would just have to go alone and try to make the best of it.

When the bell rang that signaled that lunch was on for the day, Gaz went straight to the cafeteria as fast as she could. She didn't want to sit by Dib today, nor did she want to listen to him talk, so she went to Zim's table and sat down next to him. Zim looked at her for a second and Gaz ignored him until another girl, this year's new girl, sat down across from Zim and her at the same table. Zim was now awkwardly looking forward with almost a worried expression on his face and Gaz was looking at her food, playing with it. The new girl, Lucy, looked at the two then burst out laughing. This was such an unseen sight from this table that everyone looked until Gaz shot a look through the lunch room that made everyone turn back to their own tables. Then Gaz glared at Lucy who wiped tears from her eyes. "What?" Gaz snapped, still glaring. "You look like two coworkers got drunk and fooled around and are hoping no one realizes the next day!" she laughed in her very southern accent, "Why so awkward you two?"

Gaz looked at Lucy angrily but that didn't change her playfully daring mood. "If you don't shut up…" Gaz growled back at her but Lucy just wagged a finger "Not until you answer my question, why so pissy Gaz?" Zim looked at Gaz again, then back at Lucy "She never sits here. Never the less right next to me; it's... confusing. Did I do something wrong?" Zim offered cautiously, "You're a spy for Dib aren't you?!" Zim then yelled accusingly. Lucy then looked at Gaz who had looked back down at her food and didn't look back up as she said "I have to go camping with Dib today after school." And as if she had spilled her whole life story, Lucy stopped smiling and gave Gaz an apologetic look "I'm sorry to hear that." She said, "So, you're just trying to spend as little time with him as you can today so he doesn't do something that'll make camping seem like it'll be even worse?" Gaz nodded, still looking down. Lucy shook her head "Poor girl, why don't we ditch the rest of school today and go have some fun before you're screwed for the summer?" she suggested and Gaz looked up "What would we do?" she asked but it didn't matter. Gaz had already decided to ditch (even if Lucy had no plans) the second it was mentioned. "Let's go to the arcade or something at the mall." Lucy said, already standing up. "Ok, I'll go," Gaz said and stood up too, "Zim are you coming?" she asked and Zim looked at her wide eyed "You've never requested my company before human Gaz, what makes this so different?" he asked raising an eye brow. Natt rolled her eyes "Zim, get your green hide out of that seat already. We know you ain't got anything better to do." She said in a sassy, commanding tone. Zim got up and Gaz and Lucy started walking, Zim trialing behind slightly.

Out the window and past the fence, the three odd teenagers made their way down the street to Lucy's house. She had a car and apparently very lenient parents who didn't seem to care if she snuck out. While Lucy went inside to get the keys and open the garage, Zim and Gaz had a few minutes to kill. Neither of them talked to each other the whole time, but Zim called his robot, Gir, to come join them from a phone in his back pack. Gaz watched as Zim yelled into the microphone and a high pitched Gir just laughed back. A moment later, Gir came zipping out of nowhere and landed in the front passenger seat as Lucy opened the garage door. "Woo hoo!" yelled Gir when Lucy slid across the hood of her very sexy hardtop convertible Camaro and into the driver's seat. Gaz just gaped for a second at the car -that was way too nice for a senior in high school to be driving- until Lucy Called for her to get in. "C'mon, Gaz, we ain't got all day!" Gaz snapped back to reality and jumped in the back seat next to Zim.

Two street races and a trip to Bloaty's Pizza Hog later, the trio and Gir were finally at the mall. Already, Gaz was feeling better than she had at school. It was a hot day but had enough clouds in the sky to blot out the sun which seemed like perfection to Lucy even though Gaz and Zim were a bit on the warm side. "I'm getting a smoothie" Gaz announced and Lucy offered to buy. Gir accepted right away as did Gaz, but Zim was much less enthusiastic. "You'll like 'em," Lucy assured him and went off with Gir to get smoothies for everyone once again leaving Gaz and Zim alone, this time at a table in the food court. "Hmm," Zim said looking around the mall, "There are a lot more children here than I expected, even some from school. Don't they care about their education?" Zim demanded. Gaz shrugged, "You don't learn anything on the last day anyway." she said, also looking around at the kids who were all there. "Then why go?" asked Zim "It seems pointless and stupid. Another of the human's dumb ideas I suspect." Gaz finished counting the kids from school she recognized then said "I don't know, to say goodbye to your friends and teachers for the year I guess. But last days are pretty stupid." Zim nodded in agreement and seconds later, Lucy and Gir started walking back from the counter with everyone's drinks. "I got strawberry for Gaz, bubblegum for Gir, and wild berry for me." Lucy said putting the drinks in front of everyone, "You can try some of mine and Gir's Zim. If you like 'em, I'll go get another but I wasn't sure which one would be best." Lucy pushed her drink to him, "try it" she said.

Zim looked at the purple smoothie suspiciously, "you're sure this isn't a trap?" he asked and Lucy rolled her eyes "yes Zim, I'm sure it's not a trap." Zim took a sip then gave a disgusted look. "Its poison!" he said which was more of an insult than anything. "Hey," Lucy said, "don't dis on the wild berry." and yanked her drink back. She laughed a little as she watched Zim freak out at the taste of the smoothie and Gir soon laughed too. By the end of the stupid display, even Gaz was half smiling at the alien's discomfort. When Lucy finished her smoothie and Gir got a brain freeze from racing her, the two sat looking crazy, holding their heads and laughing while also groaning with pain, it was a funny scene and Gaz chuckled at them. "You see, I was right." Zim said proudly. "It is poison."

For the next two hours, after Lucy and Gir had recovered from the "poisonous" smoothies, they all went to the arcade. "Having fun?" Lucy asked Gaz when she had used her last quarters on a racing game. Gaz nodded "Die!" she yelled at the zombies she was shooting at in her game, "That's good to see, but we've been here for a while now and I think it's about time to head back home. Hurry up and win so we can get going." Lucy yelled over the noise of the arcade. Gaz glanced down at her watch and agreed it was time to go. She shot a few more zombies then quickly ran out of bullets on purpose so the machine asked for more coins. When the time ran out, she punched in her initials then went to find Lucy who was telling Zim it was time to go. Zim was playing Galaga; a very old but extremely fun space ship game and he was dominating! Gaz watched him shoot down every ship until her phone started to ring. It was Dib, probably wondering where she was, so Gaz didn't answer. She went up to Zim, Lucy, and Gir and yelled "I have to go" over the noise. Lucy nodded in acknowledgement and told Zim to get off. He did so a minute later and turned away from the machine, neglecting to type his initials in. Gaz tried to tell him that he should but he just shrugged, "I don't have a need to document myself on the game box." He said and walked out.

On the way back, Gaz stared, baffled at Zim: _who wouldn't want credit for that?_ she asked herself, and felt a strange admiration for Zim overcome her. "Who wants one last snack? I'm craving a pickle." Lucy said and looked back at Gaz and Zim from the rear view mirror. Gaz felt on a joking basis with Lucy from today and responded "I thought you were gay, Lucy." Lucy smiled and shrugged "food smartass, but if you've got a better idea…" she said, flirting with Gaz who kicked the seat. "You wanna play hard to get huh? I see how it is." Lucy joked and stopped the car at a gas station. She hopped out of the car and Gir followed, "we'll be back in a sec kiddos." She said and went inside. "What is this 'gay' thing?" Zim asked, not directly to Gaz but being the only person in the car, answered him: "Gay is when you're a girl who likes girls or a boy who likes boys." She said, "How have you lived on Earth this long and not learned that?" Zim shrugged, "We have another name for it. My tallest are 'gay' though. I knew what it was; I just didn't recognize that word." He snapped but then looked puzzled, "Lucy is gay?" he asked. Gaz nodded, "Yeah, she's hit on me before, but I'm not into that sort of thing so I guess that's why I never actually hung out with her. She's pretty cool though, we'll have to do this more often."

Lucy came back with Gir, each of them carrying a big bag of food. "I got a bunch of stuff," she said throwing the bag on the back seat next to Gaz, "take whatever, I'm not gonna eat it all." She said. Gir already started pigging out on junk and Gaz opened a soda. Lucy pulled up to Gaz's house a few minutes later and stopped the car. "See ya later, girly!" she said as Gaz got out of the car, "Thanks for hangin' today." Gaz got to her porch and waved back to Lucy, "Thanks, that was… fun." Gaz yelled back and went inside after Lucy started to drive away.

Gaz had a small smile on her face when she walked into the living room where Dib was waiting for her on the couch. "How come you didn't answer my call?" he asked when she sat down next to him. "I was busy." Gaz told him and took another swig of her soda. Dib looked angry and turned the TV off to yell at her; "Gaz, you can't just ditch school like that, especially not with the enemy!" he yelled. Gaz just looked forward, her smile was gone. "I was watching that, Dib." She said through gritted teeth but Dib didn't seem to notice. He just kept babbling on about Zim and how he was evil and planning to destroy the world. "Dib if you don't leave me alone right now, I'll make you wish I was never born." Gaz threatened but Dib just paced back and forth "Why would you even hang out with him? What were you thinking?" he yelled. The next minute, Gaz got up and punched Dib right in the stomach. He doubled over in pain and fell on his knees. Gaz stood over him, looking annoyed and said "I can hang out with whoever I want to. Zim's not that bad. And I was thinking; I don't want to spend an entire week with you and have nothing else to do!" Gaz stormed up to her room and started packing for camping but all she could think about was inviting Zim or Lucy to join her and make the trip less painful.

An hour or so later, Gaz had just finished packing and could hear her dad downstairs: "Kids, time to go!" Gaz looked at her phone and then at her Game Slave and sighed, picked up her phone, and went down to the entry way where the door was open and Dib and their dad were carrying things to an RV. Gaz dragged her single suitcase out and loaded it in the vehicle then glanced back down at her phone. _Come on, answer already! _She thought as her dad loaded the last bag into the back. "Ready Gaz?" he asked as he opened the driver side door and got in. Gaz looked at her phone one last time but sighed when nothing happened. "Yeah, I guess I'm ready." She said and climbed into the RV.

The Membranes were just about to leave when a dark red Camaro pulled up behind the RV. "Wait!" Gaz commanded and got back out when her dad stopped. "What is it Gaz, forget something?" her dad asked and Gaz nodded. "I'm bringing a friend dad… if that's ok with you." She said, waiting for his answer. "That's fine Gaz, but hurry up! Time waits for no man… unless of course you use a time stasis generator." He said. "I don't recommend it." mumbled Gaz's friend, Lucy, not expecting to be heard as she loaded her bags and climbed aboard with Gaz. "You know of time distortion do you?" Professor Membrane asked when Lucy was in her seat, "yeah, time is a favorite subject of mine." She said, shocking Membrane with her unexpected interest, "It's so… intriguing."

For the whole way there, Lucy had a passionate discussion with Membrane about the complications of time travel in the front seat, Dib sat at the table looking at maps of "Big Foot territory", and Gaz read her book until she had no more to read. When she finally finished, Lucy stopped talking to Membrane and went into the cabin, "Who's up for a little poker?" she asked clearing the table. "Dad!" Dib whined, "She's ruining my maps!" Membrane kept his eyes on the road and said, "Playing with cards helps teach probability and is good for brain training. Besides, you'll like it, son." Dib sighed, "Fine, I'll go study these in the bathroom." He said reaching for the maps in Lucy's hands but the very tall teen wouldn't give them to him, "Not until you play a game with us, you'll like it." She said putting the maps behind her back, "I guarantee it." She said dealing out cards. Gaz moved over from the couch and sat next to Lucy, "What are we playing?" she asked, curious now that she had no things to do. "Texas Hold 'em." Lucy said picking up her hand.

"I don't know how to play this." Gaz said but wasn't fazed by her lack of know-how. "Don't worry, you'll pick it up pretty fast, it ain't a tough game." Lucy assured. And sure enough soon, Gaz got very wrapped up in the game after a few hands. When Lucy felt like they got the rules down pretty well, she introduced money into the game. Gaz didn't have that much, but Lucy seemed to be loaded and wasn't playing very well for the first few rounds, letting Dib and Gaz win a bit so they could actually do some real gambling and even Dib found himself having fun by the end of the game. Gaz let Lucy lose on purpose despite her love of challenges, until she felt like they were equally ready to play with money. Then the real gambling began.

By the end of the drive, it was very dark out but no one was tired. Lucy had lost the poker game to Gaz who was astounded at the new sum of money she had won from her, and Dib had even taken a small pot before leaving the game for fear of getting out. "Nice job!" Lucy congratulated the two and yawned. "I think it's time to hit the hay." She said. Gaz seemed to agree to this and sat down on the couch. Lucy shook her head when Dib pulled the bed down from the wall and Membrane reclined the seat, "Nobody's gonna camp huh?" she asked, glaring at Membrane who looked ashamed. Gaz looked at Lucy but was confused, "We are camping." She said but Lucy shook her head and left the RV. The next minute, there was a dragging sound from outside as Lucy set up her tent next to a tree so the stars were still above her. She set a sleeping bag in the tent and got in. Gaz wanted to go join her, now feeling ashamed that she was in an RV and not out with Lucy, but she didn't have her own tent or a sleeping bag.

As if she had read her mind, Lucy called into the RV: "I brought extra sleeping bags!" This was an invitation Gaz could have refused if she really wanted to, but she didn't want to sleep in the same room never-the-less the same cabin as Dib, so she climbed out to Lucy's tent. Expectantly, Gaz held her arms but it wasn't cold out, it was a warm night. She heard crickets and there was surprisingly a lot of light from the moon to allow her to reach the tent without problems. Lucy was waiting with the tent open waving for her to hurry, "Come on before the mosquitoes get ya!" she whispered loudly and as if on q, Gaz heard a buzz by her ear that she swatted away. In the tent, the two girls sat by flashlight for a minute while they zipped up the tent and got into their sleeping bags. "I've never been camping like this," Gaz said when the lights were out and the two laid facing up at the stars looking through the mesh top that Lucy unzipped to look at the sky. "I expected as much." she replied, "But I'll show you how it's really done."

The next morning, for all she could tell, everyone else was asleep still. She thought about lying back down, but it was almost sunrise and Gaz didn't feel like sitting in the tent anymore. She left the tent then, and walked a little bit away from the RV and down to a lake. There was no one else around, which was expected; the place Dib had chosen was very remote because this was supposedly where Big Foot moved to get away from the people hunting him. Gaz looked into the water, from the shore where it couldn't touch her, for a while like a zombie until she suddenly heard a crack in the trees behind her. She snapped around and saw Dib with a pair of weird goggles on, looking around before he noticed Gaz. "Dib, what are you doing crashing through the bushes at this hour?" Gaz asked sleepily when Dib got close enough. He looked left to right a few times before stopping in front of Gaz. "I'm looking for Big Foot." Dib said and Gaz rolled her eyes. "Go look for him somewhere else." Gaz said and turned back down to the water. Dib lifted his goggles "How come you didn't tell anyone you were bringing Lucy along? She hangs out with Zim you know!" he said. Gaz sighed and clenched her fists, "Dib, I want to be left alone right now. So leave me alone!" she breathed. "Fine, I'll go." Dib said and ran and rolled away, periodically looking from side to side and stopping to listen to nothing.  
When he was far enough away from Gaz to let her have her peace, Dib continued looking around for any signs of anything paranormal. Suddenly, he heard a low growl ahead of him and moved silently towards the sound. He expected to see something amazing like Big Foot and jumped out from behind a tree ready with a camera but instead, he was disappointed and startled to see Lucy sitting on a rock holding her bare foot. "Every f *king time!" She said through clenched teeth and Dib looked at her, worried and moved in front of her. "Are you ok?" Dib asked standing in front of her. "Yeah, I'll be fine." She said back, "Just stubbed my damn toe." Dib squelched a laugh and sat down cross legged in front of her, "why are you out here?" Dib asked looking at Lucy and taking off his goggles, "You didn't happen to see Big Foot did you?" Lucy shook her head and let go of her foot which landed back on the ground, "Settin' traps." She said pointing to a pile of twigs that looked harmless. She picked up a stick and touched the middle of the pile and a rope caught the stick and pulled up.

Dib helped set the rest of Lucy's traps after he demanded she teach him. "Why are you setting these, and more importantly how do you know how to?" Dib asked and Lucy shrugged "When I was little my friends and I took a course at… school on survival. I told Gaz I would show her how to really camp, so here I am." Lucy answered on their way back to the camp site. Gaz was waiting for her father who was cooking eggs over a pit- no doubt one Lucy had made- but at least Membrane started the fire. "Ah good, we can all eat." Membrane said and Dib and Lucy sat down.

Halfway through breakfast, everyone was fully awake. Lucy was the one to suggest fishing afterwards because, she said, no one else in the Membrane family knew how to camp and again looked at Membrane accusingly. Looking ashamed, Membrane agreed it might be a good idea to actually experience the outdoors on their camping excursion and Gaz seemed excited, out of everything involved in fishing, to learn how to gut a fish. Before they went out, Membrane claimed to have gotten sick from the eggs, claiming he must have under cooked them. Lucy rolled her eyes at him but the three went on anyway, figuring that he would probably work on some experiment from inside the RV. So they went down to the lake and, surprisingly enough, they had fun. Gaz found skinning and gutting the fish to be a great way to release her anger and Lucy just sat by the lake reeling them in every now and again, relaxing against a rock while Dib looked around for whatever it was Dib was looking for now.

"I think your brother has ADD." Lucy told Gaz when she reeled in another fish making the total catch of the day four. "Probably." Gaz agreed, stabbing the fish with her knife and pulling the blade down. "I do not!" Dib yelled from the trees behind them and both girls shushed him loudly, "You'll scare away the fish!" Lucy whispered loudly. Dib just stomped farther away out of sight or hearing range from Gaz or Lucy leaving them free to sit in peace… or talk. Lucy was the first to start talking to Gaz. She didn't mind listening to Lucy, Gaz had come to enjoy her company a lot more than Dib's so she didn't get angry when Lucy asked her about stuff once Dib was gone. "So why'd you invite me (out of all people) camping with you Gaz? I didn't think you liked me all that much." Lucy began. Gaz looked down at her fish and carved out a fillet before she said anything else, "I didn't want to spend the whole week with Dib and I didn't have any other friends to ask." Gaz finally said.

Lucy nodded in understanding, but soon thought of something else, "What about Zim? Isn't he your friend? I mean, you did sit by him today at lunch when you needed someone else. Is there something you're not admitting?" Gaz blushed but didn't catch herself in time to hide her face completely from Lucy who jolted up from against her rock. "You like Zim, don't you?!" She said as more of a realization than a question and leaned down on her side putting her head in her hands as she looked at Gaz. "You didn't invite him because you like him." She declared smiling at Gaz. "No!" Gaz said defensively, "I just didn't want to invite Zim." She tried to explain but Lucy bought none of it. "You liar. It doesn't take a strait woman to see you like Zim." She said, playfully splashing water at Gaz with her toes which quite a skilled move it was considering the angle her body was at. Gaz threw the skinning knife at Lucy but with an astonishing speed, she deflected it with her fishing pole. It landed in the sand by Lucy's thigh. "Fine." She said sitting back up, "If you don't wanna talk about it, we won't talk about it." But before she completely stopped, she blurted "He likes you too ya know." And was shot a threatening look from Gaz. Lucy stole one last quick glance before returning to her fishing and saw Gaz blush. She smiled and reeled in another fish.

The rest of the week was a lot more fun than Gaz expected it to be. She found that Lucy was an excellent trapper and that she was a natural born skinner although Lucy warned her that that was best to keep to herself but congratulated her all the same. They all spent a lot of time by the lake; Lucy even showed Gaz how to make fishbone jewelry so they each had a matching bracelet of sharp, white ribs. On the last day, however, things went wrong. Dib, who had postponed looking for Big Foot to go swimming with their dad, (who finally decided to actually camp), started having suspicions about Lucy when she got in the water. On her back, she had a tattoo of a set of bat-like wings that almost seemed to rise above her skin, and a matching forked tail wrapped around her thigh. Dib knew her parents supposedly were lenient, but to allow such tattoos seemed very bizarre to say the least.

Lucy got out of the water after about an hour of swimming to go get something- a beach ball or something- from camp and Dib followed. Back at camp, Lucy rummaged through her bag that she had brought, when Dib came up behind her. "What kind of school teaches the students how to hunt?" he asked suspiciously while Lucy was still turned around. "It's actually trapping; well I learned to hunt too, but… military school, Dib." she responded, not even startled that Dib had followed her. He looked at her suspiciously as Lucy turned around with a deflated toy in her hands and started walking past Dib back to the beach. "Where'd you get those tattoos?" Dib asked, catching up with her but staying a bit behind so she didn't try anything. "I don't have any tattoos, Dib. These are more like… birthmarks." She said, running a hand across her back, "anything else?" Dib jumped in front of her and yelled "AH HA!" Lucy stopped and rolled her eyes, "Dib, if you have something you wanna ask me, just ask it." "You're a demon, aren't you?!" Dib shouted and Lucy crinkled her nose, "Don't be insulting!" she snapped, "I'm a Devil, stupid."

Dib stopped and stammered, "You… you just admit it?" Lucy shrugged; "you asked" she said and pushed past Dib to head to the water. "But… but…" Dib was confused. Someone he expected never actually admitted to being something supernatural before, and this scared him more than his long time enemy Zim did. "You're after my sister aren't you?!" Dib yelled as he chased after Lucy but was not able to catch her before she reached the water. "Gaz, Lucy's a Devil!" he said as he tried to catch his breath once back at the water, "ask her." Gaz rolled her eyes "cool" and her dad chimed in, "Son, there's no scientific possibility that there is an entire world lying beneath the earth's surface, we'd know about it by now anyway." Lucy nodded in agreement and Dib stared wide eyed, "but she told me herself she was a devil!" Lucy was blowing up her beach toy so she didn't respond. While she finished, Gaz swam over to Dib and punched him in the throat, "Stop talking; I'm sick of you scaring off my friends."

When Dib finally recovered, everyone was back at camp packing things up to go. A fire was burning low and Lucy was getting the things needed for smores ready for one last camping-worthy snack. Dib finished cleaning up the RV and confronted Lucy, "I don't know what your game is, but I'll find out. When I do, I'm gonna kill you, you sick… sick… abomination!" he whispered with his voice slowly rising. Lucy shrugged, "Dib, calm your big head. I ain't gonna hurt your sister, or take over the planet, or anything like that. I'm just going to school, and then I'm going home. Besides, your whole world already lives in fear of my kind and what Devils stand for, so I'd say there ain't much more conquering I can do." Dib blinked back at her. "Why did you lie to my dad but not me?" He asked. "Lie? Oh, about the Hell thing?" Lucy looked confused, "I didn't lie, he was right: there is no secret world under Earth, Hell is in another dimension but on the same Earth. There's Hell on every planet. My people have spread to many worlds but you will never know because you simply can't go to our dimension. Hell, there are even demons and devils on Zim's world I'm sure." She said and smothered the fire. Dib looked flabbergasted at Lucy.

"Why are you telling me all this?" he asked. "You wanted to know, I have no reason not to tell, because I'm leaving later anyway." She said just as Gaz walked up. "You're leaving?" she asked, she had overheard the conversation. Lucy nodded, "I'm going to Africa for the summer. Don't worry; I'll come back for the next year school year." She said. This seemed to satisfy Gaz who waited until Lucy was next to her to walk to the RV together. "Wait!" Dib called, "one last question, do we really go to Heaven or Hell when we die?" Lucy didn't even turn around and just kept walking ahead and said, "If you are just about to die, usually the young are taken, but some people are taken to Hell (where they never age and are cured if they have diseases) and some just die. I don't think there really is a Heaven. At least, I've never been to a dimension called Heaven. I've been to places like the Christian image of Heaven though, and none of them accept 'souls'. Sorry." That was that, and Dib didn't know what to do or think. He simply followed the girls onto the RV and sat down. This was a lot of information to digest and the entire trip back was adequate time to do so.

The next day, they had driven back and Lucy left soon after saying goodbye to Membrane and Gaz, who both liked her. "It was fun, Dib." She said lastly to Dib when they had no other company, "Just remember that all that glitters ain't gold… or something." She laughed facetiously and hopped in her Camaro. Dib watched her go, "that's a weird aphorism." He said to himself then yelled after her, "you're not safe, devil!" and Gaz came up to him and punched him in the throat again then went inside after saying through gritted teeth, "neither are you if you don't stop, Dib."


End file.
